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Jake Tapper is ABC News' Senior White House Correspondent based in the network's Washington bureau. He writes about politics and popular culture and covers a range of national stories.
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"Barack the magic…."
April 26, 2007 3:01 PM
Liberal internet writers, the tang of Don Imus's blood still fresh in their mouths, have been writing recently about a song featured on Rush Limbaugh's website called "Barack the Magic Negro" to the tune of "Puff the Magic Dragon."
You can hear the song HERE
While the song -- performed by conservative white comedian Paul Shanklin mimicking Rev. Al Sharpton -- may well be offensive, the context of the parody seems not insignificant.
The full song is called "Barack the Magic Negro -- That's What the LA Times Called Him," and it's based on an oped by a liberal writer in the LA Times from last month (READ IT HERE) called "Obama the Magic Negro."
David Ehrenstein writes that in addition to running for president, "Obama also is running for an equally important unelected office, in the province of the popular imagination — the 'Magic Negro.' The Magic Negro is a figure of postmodern folk culture, coined by snarky 20th century sociologists, to explain a cultural figure who emerged in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education. 'He has no past, he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist,' reads the description on Wikipedia.
"He's there to assuage white 'guilt' (i.e., the minimal discomfort they feel) over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history, while replacing stereotypes of a dangerous, highly sexualized black man with a benign figure for whom interracial sexual congress holds no interest. As might be expected, this figure is chiefly cinematic — embodied by such noted performers as Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman, Scatman Crothers, Michael Clarke Duncan, Will Smith and, most recently, Don Cheadle. And that's not to mention a certain basketball player whose very nickname is 'Magic.'…"
Please note: I am not defending the song or the use of that word…..Just highlighting the context.
-- jpt
April 26, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (13)
Rush is great! All his antics backfire and actually help boost the democrats. Remember his Michael J. Fox antics? After that, money poured into Senator McCaskill's campaign in Missouri and she won, tipping the senate balance towards democrats. Keep up the good work Rush!
Posted by: Dave | Jun 7, 2008 12:29:25 AM
For all you ultra lib wacko's. How aboout this instead:
Barrack the magic pinko
Lives in a dream
Of change and change
To what we don't know.
But pinko dreams of utopia
Down by the 'mune
Growing kale and peas
Singing kumbaya for me.
Wake up! You're dreaming.
Posted by: davel | May 9, 2008 5:47:42 PM
"Limbaugh is a drug-addicted, reactionary-pandering bigot. Why anyone would believe in what he says is beyond belief. Putting this on his website but not on the air is another example of his cowardice. What would happen if it were aired would possibly dwarf what happened to Imus in public outrage-or at least one would hope so." - sophillyfatz
Uh....Rush did in fact air the song (at least twice) on his live radio program. Check your facts first; thank you very much.
Posted by: LR | Jan 15, 2008 1:54:47 PM
sophillyfatz:
Rush has been playing the song ON THE AIR since March.
Posted by: Joefish | May 8, 2007 5:15:01 PM
Get over it people. I am a black man and I thought the Rush piece was funny and well thought out. It was pointing out the absurdity of the LA TImes article and Al Sharpton who claims that Barak is not "black enough". It was not racist and, when heard in context, argues against racist thought in the media.
Posted by: Hazak | May 7, 2007 4:03:00 PM
Can we get past skin color and right wing propaganists and talk about issues and the fact that Obama is the best choice for President?
Noone takes Rush Limbaugh seriously anymore...do they????
Posted by: Steve | May 6, 2007 7:07:04 PM
"Please note: I am not defending the song or the use of that word…"
That word?? You mean negro. When did it become wrong to use that word? Can we say "black" now? Or is that now off limits? Negro is spanish for black you know. Should we let the spanish people know that they should drop this work from their vocabulary? How about "people of color" Is that still ok to use? I would think it would be offensive to white people because it assumes they have no color. Let's put that one on the liberal list to ban. FAT CHANCE.
Posted by: fastaire | May 4, 2007 7:44:39 AM
You've got to be kidding! Is Mr. Ehrenstein's "analysis" what passes for reflective thought, never mind academic research, nowadays? Such a cursory "explanation" of Sen. Obama's appeal is racist in its very essence--"magic Negro," indeed! Focusing on this so-called "sociological analysis," whether in satirical song or in an op-ed piece by someone who certainly should know better, plays to stereotypes I thought we'd discarded years ago. I now see I was mistaken.
Posted by: chuck | Apr 30, 2007 8:49:42 AM
Definition of "truly racist": Anything a Democrat does that Republicans want to pretend to be offended by.
Posted by: Kyle | Apr 27, 2007 10:11:43 PM
sophillyfatz: You wrote: "...but not on the air is another example of his cowardice." That really shows how much you know. Rush Limbaugh HAS AIRED the parody frequently since March 21. In fact he aired it TWICE today.
J. Thomas: You wrote: "...(Rush Limbaugh) uses a private jet..." Did you fail to notice that ALL 8 of the Democratic candidates running for President used private jets to tonight's debate in South Carolina? And the worst of it is, not a one of them pooled with another candidate -- 8 private jets. If they were really so concerned about global warming, they would have all flown on the same jet.
Posted by: James Danley | Apr 27, 2007 3:00:19 AM
Stone him! He is a non-believer!! He also drives a 12-cylinder Mercedes Bi-turbo, uses a private jet and doesn't use compact fluorescent lighting.
Posted by: J. Thomas | Apr 26, 2007 9:13:20 PM
Limbaugh is a drug-addicted, reactionary-pandering bigot. Why anyone would believe in what he says is beyond belief. Putting this on his website but not on the air is another example of his cowardice. What would happen if it were aired would possibly dwarf what happened to Imus in public outrage-or at least one would hope so.
Posted by: sophillyfatz | Apr 26, 2007 8:52:09 PM
What's a little more disturbing is that Hillary wrote a blog on a website that got into trouble for posting a "Black Face" picture of Joe Lieberman.... Now that's truly racist.
Posted by: Sar | Apr 26, 2007 4:25:49 PM
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